Screen dealing firm Patsystems is parting company with its chief executive of three years Kevin Ashby.
In a statement, the board of Patsystems says that Ashby will leave the company at the end of March 2006. He will be replaced by David Paul Webber, chief executive of financial software house AttentiV, who will take over the reigns on 3 January.
Patsystems gave no reason for Ashby's departure, but the board said it had been "aware for some time that Kevin was looking for a new challenge".
In a trading update at the beginning of November, Patsystems reported lower than expected sales due to an unseasonal slowdown in the UK, delays in product upgrades and extended client timescales.
Stewart Millman, chairman of Patsystems, played down the problems: "Patsystems is now a profitable company with a wide and prestigious base of clients and prospects, with global reach and an expanding portfolio of financial market products. We look forward to building on this firm foundation with David Webber and the existing management team, to the benefit of all of Patsystems' stakeholders."
As chief executive of AttentiV, Webber delivered the management buyout from Skandia in 2002, the IPO on AIM in early 2004, and remained CEO following the takeover by TietoEnator early in 2005.